The Opelousas courier., 1887-01-01
THE SPONGE.
Interesting Facts Concerning
a Useful Article.
Sponges Are the Skeletons of Animals
Peculiarly Constructed.

The number of facts once known but
afterward absolutely and completely for
gotten by the average mortal must be an
enormous one. 1t has been declared by
some statistic-loving individual that no
man at the age of 40 remembers MOI
than one. sixteenth of the whole number
of facts with which he has been familiar
at different periods of his life. 1t is,
therefore, not surprising that a busy Chi
cagoan should be found wanting when
catechised by a small boy fresh from
school on the comparatively unimpor-
tant subject of sponges. Yet, sometimes
"small beginnings make great endings,
and busy men and women before now
have found practica al help in observation
of and interest in nature.
It was from the folding of a bats wing
that the japanese gained the idea of
hinged fans, o SO generally used; the
structure of an oak tree suggested that OF
the famous Eddystone lighthouse, so
well adapted to Withstand winds and
waves, to its protector; during the last
fifteen years numerous accounts have been
published In every civilized country and
language, OF the boring process. of a small
submarine animal known to biologists
as the pholas, and machines formed on
the model of it's mechanism were used
for tunnelling Mont Gems.
Sponges, like other everyday things,
we take for granted, and the idea that
we are washing our faces with the
skeleton of dead animals is, when first
realized, rather startling. When alive,
the fibrous network we are so accustomed
to is clothed within and without by a
thin, gelatinous substance, v>ry like the
white of an egg. This lines all the
passages and covers the outside, but it
drains off when the sponge is removed
from the water. In this substance the
life of the sponge resides, and manifests
itself not only by the slow but regular
growth of the mass, but by a curious
circulation of fluid which is constantly
taking place within it.
When a sponge is examined in its liv- |
ing state beneath the water a current is
always seen to issue from its vents,
while a constant flow of water takes |
place inward through the pores, and
these currents evidently have for their
object the conveyance of the nutritive
matter in the water into the sponge and
also the carrying off of the particles
which are to be excreted. The position
of the pores and vents differ very much
in the diff rent kinds o~fsponges. Some
times all the pores are on one side and
all the vents on the other, and sometimes
the vents are placed on top of little
cones which look like the crater of a
volcano.
The sponges themselves grow in
different ways. Some are inhabitants of
the deep sea-, and are supported by ropes
of long, twisted ibers which sink in the
mud of the sea bottom. Other sanchor-
ing sponges" are moored to the mud by
a beard of long, delicate spikes. An
kind of sponge lives in fresh
water, but the best ones are
obtained from the Grecian archipelago
and the Bahama islands, and are usually
found attached to some solid object in
deep water. They are beaten and
soaked in muriatic acid before being
brought to marxet.
"There's been a corner on sponges for
he last year" remarked an affable drug
store clerk the other day. 'tSome of the
New York dealers are controlling the
market, and we have to pay twice as
much as we used to. This one, for in
lance" picking up a firm golden ball
bout three inches in diameter, 1--WE
hould get So for now, and two years I
go it wouldn't have sold for more than
'a!f that sum-. It's what they call a
sheep-wooP sponge, and comes from 9
ne Mediterranean. These little sur
con- sponges bring from $3.50 to Sd, J
ut of course they are very fine. ]
"a Florida sponge, now," and he 3
ointed contemptuously to a tray of r
skeletons, s'sells for is n
an ounce, and atwo-cunce sponge
a pretty large one, | can tell you."--
Various Reasons Assigned J